The FAME Mid-Career Award Recipient 2025
Established in 2022, the FAME Mid-Career Awards administered by PANNZ (The Performing Arts Network New Zealand) in partnership with The FAME Trust and the Acorn Foundation, recognise and support practitioners across Contemporary Dance, Classical Music, Theatre, Producing, Stage Management, Production, Design, and Technical fields. Each of this year’s six recipients will receive a cash prize of NZ$20,000, made possible through the generosity of the FAME Trust in partnership with The Acorn Foundation.
The FAME Mid-Career Awards were announced at 2025 PANNZ Arts Market, celebrating the incredible achievements of performing artists and production professionals from the performing arts sector in Aotearoa, with Vanessa being awarded with the inaugural Producer award.
“I want to acknowledge the remarkable producers across the motu, who are often invisible unless a problem arises, and I’m grateful that Acorn and PANNZ have created this award. Having this new award means we can finally celebrate all the hard work that producers do to make magic happen. The work begins long before anyone sets foot into a rehearsal room. I look forward to celebrating more visibility for producers, arts managers and self producing artists for years to come.”
